Collusion collision: Russia at the movies

Bill Knight column for Thurs., Fri. or Sat. May 3, 4 or 5, 2018

Just in case Vladimir Putin or some of the hordes of Russia-backed, state-sponsored hackers are irked that occasional glimpses of films exclude Mother Russia, here’s a second opinion about any Robert Mueller crackdown on Kremlin interference with Hollywood.

From acclaimed director Sergei Eisenstein's silent classic “Battleship Potemkin” (1925) to last year’s political satire “The Death of Stalin,” Russia and/or the Cold War are implicit in the back stories of a variety of pictures, from “Superman IV” to “Rocky IV,” from “On the Beach” to “From Russia With Love.” International intrigue involving Russia affects innocents in “Song of Russia” and Alfred Hitchcock's “Torn Curtain.” More sympathetic depictions are featured in 1944's “Days of Glory,” 1983’s film version of the best-seller “Gorky Park,” and the documentary “The Red Stuff: The True Story of the Russian Race for Space.”

U.S. motion pictures have reflected the popular mood about Russia: a distant, exotic land in the 1920s and ’30s, a wartime ally in the ’40s, an ominous threat in the ’50s, an enemy economic system and government in the ’60s and ’70s, an uneasy friend and even partner in the ’80s, and now a possible Boogeyman again.

Russia's history for a century has been one of instability and fear, courage and innovation, repression and renewal. This land of vast size and ever-changing shape has evolved along with movie audiences’ varying feelings and politics’ fickle adjustments.

Here's a Top 10 of Russian movies, together as refined and varied as caviar and vodka:

“Anna Karenina” (1935). Greta Garbo is magnificent in this movie based on Leo Tolstoy's story of an illicit affair in the court of imperial Russia. The cast is captivating, with Fredric March, Basil Rathbone, Maureen O'Sullivan and Freddie Bartholomew.

“Comrade X” (1940). King Vidor directed this screwball comedy starring Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr as an American newspaper reporter and a streetcar conductor with unorthodox political beliefs.

“Dr. Zhivago” (1965). Filmmaker David Lean occasionally sacrificed plot for panorama in his 176-minute epic based on Boris Pasternak's bestseller. But it works and works wonders. Omar Sharif stars as the Russian physician and poet who's unfairly branded an enemy of the people after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.

Julie Christie co-stars, with Alec Guinness, Geraldine Chaplin and Rod Steiger. The Academy Award-winner (five Oscars) has fine performances, stunning cinematography, and splendid costumes and sets to take moviegoers to another place and time.

“Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears” (1981). Vladimir Menshov's drama has a little comedy and a little tragedy. Three everyday women from small towns in the 1950s go to Moscow to start new lives and endure all kinds of trouble as they do. It won the best Foreign Film Oscar.

“Ninochka” (1939). Greta Garbo stars as a Russian bureaucrat sent to Paris to determine why previous envoys have made little progress in trade talks. Melvyn Douglas and Bela Lugosi (yes, him) co-star.

“North Star” (1943). When the Soviet Union was betrayed by one-time ally Nazi Germany, the Allies welcomed their assistance in defeating fascism. This picture shows Russia in a favorable light, plus the human side of war. A Ukrainian village bravely struggles to endure Nazi invasion, occupation and repression. Dana Andrews and Farley Granger star, with Anne Baxter and Walter Brennan.

“Reds” (1981). Warren Beatty's Oscar-winner is a magnificent epic with substance, style and characters audiences care about. Beatty wrote, produced and directed this romantic drama, and stars as American radical journalist John Reed, who covered the Mexican Revolution, unrest in the U.S., and the Russian Revolution. His book “Ten Days That Shook The World” is a classic; he's buried in Red Square.

Structured as a semi-documentary – with occasional interviews with real people who knew Reed –

the 200-minute masterpiece co-stars Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Gene Hackman.

“The Russia House” (1990). Michelle Pfeiffer stars as a Russian who mails an unsolicited manuscript to a British book publisher (Sean Connery). He in turn wants to get a copy of Soviet military secrets before the KGB or CIA intercepts the information. Roy Scheider and John Mahoney co-star.

“The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming” (1966). When a Soviet submarine runs aground off Massachusetts, all its crew wants is to leave quietly, but townspeople are terrified – and hilarious. Produced and directed by Norman Jewison, the comedy stars Alan Arkin, Theodore Bikel, Jonathan Winters, Carl Reiner, Paul Ford and Brian Keith.

“War and Peace” (1958). The indomitable Russian spirit is revered in this epic starring Henry Fonda and Audrey Hepburn. Reverent and accessible, this version of Tolstoy's melodrama is set during Napoleon's wars against Russia and Europe.